How to create great video products
How to create great video products
In the last year we have seen an explosion in the online video market. Try these tips if you want to create great video products for sale on the Internet:
You’ll be more successful if you show how to solve a problem. Forget about trying to impress people. Forget about trying to look good. Be natural, be yourself, and show people how you solved a problem in your own life. Then give your viewers tips for applying these lessons and strategies to their lives.
Focus on action. Always think about action-about what you want your audience to do. Then build your video around that action. As the Roman statesman Cato said, “Find the message first and the words will follow.”
Failure is the result of a lack of focus. To be effective-for people to remember your message-focus on a single power point and present it as truthfully and as entertainingly as you can, rather than presenting a series of topics in a single video product.
The power of structure
Keep this basic structure in mind as you create your video product:
* Start with a powerful, attention-grabbing lead. Clearly state your theme in the first minute.
* Use smooth transitions to link one segment to another.
* Use action verbs. Change verbs in passive voice to active verbs. Keep adjectives and adverbs to a minimum.
* Give viewers a few suggestions to help them apply what they’ve learned to their lives.
* Be yourself. Use short words and sentences. If you’re stuck and you don’t know what to say next, explain it the way you would to your best friend or spouse.
* Connect with your audience. Wrap everything in human terms-make it something your next-door neighbor can relate to.
* Finish with a satisfying conclusion that reemphasizes your theme.
When you have an idea for your video, you’ll know it’s the right one if you can answer “yes” to each of the following questions:
* Does this need to be done? Am I the right person to do it? Can I see the world from the point of view of my audience? Can I think their thoughts?
* Can the market I’m targeting understand my video? Can I express the idea better in half the time? Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, “Perfection is attained, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
* Does the idea hold together from start to finish? Does it move smoothly? Does the video make sense as a whole rather than just as the sum of its parts?
* Am I willing to say what I think is true, no matter what?
Now you’re ready to create a great video product. As you develop your video, keep this checklist handy at all times. It will let you know what elements in your video product need more work, and it will let you know when your video is ready to be distributed and sold on the Internet.
How to create great inspirational video products
How to create great inspirational video products
The revolution in Internet video has been triggered by video sharing sites like YouTube, where amateur content producers have the same power to broadcast their products as major media corporations. Individual content producers and Internet marketers are connected to potential customers as never before. “Welcome to a network where anyone can be famous,” says the voice over in the Cisco promotional campaign. “Welcome to the Human Network.”
All right, so now you’re convinced that you need to create video products for sale on the Internet, but you don’t have any ideas. Where do you get ideas for concepts that can be turned into video products that customers will want to pay money for?
The best ideas come from your own experience. If you know how to do something that can add value to someone’s life, you have a concept for a video product that can generate a revenue stream on the Internet for many years. If you have ever solved a problem that vexes other people, you have the material for an inspirational or motivational video that can generate revenue over and over again through your web site.
If you are confronted with a problem today, you have an opportunity to create a video product that can earn revenue on the Internet for years. Think about a problem you had with a product or service. Can it be improved? Can you think of a way to help people do something better, faster, or cheaper? Any of these questions can be the starting point for developing a concept for a successful how-to video.
To see what I’m talking about, check out Sanders Says (www.sanderssays.typepad.com). Tim Sanders is a marketing and product development expert who hosts this advice blog that concentrates on business and relationship management. Tim has developed video projects for clients at Yahoo (and at broadcast.com, before it was acquired by Yahoo).
Visit Tim’s site and listen as he tells the story of Paul Galvin. Paul was a hard-working man from a small town who wasn’t afraid to make mistakes. In fact, Paul learned early in life that wisdom is born from mistakes-his first three business efforts ended in failure. You have never heard of the first three businesses that Paul Galvin founded, but everyone has heard of the fourth one: Paul called his new venture “Motorola.” The rest is history; the company founded by the man who refused to give up gave birth to everything from wireless phones to one of the earliest computer chips.
Tim Sanders is a wonderful storyteller, and he uses this story to illustrate how great leaders inspired others. (You can also find this video on YouTube: just type “Paul Galvin story” in the search window on the YouTube home page.)
As the story of Paul Galvin illustrates, all great leaders inspire. Think of stories you can tell to inspire people. Use these concepts to create video products and start to reach a bigger customer base for your Internet business today.